In the early hours we both awoke as it had got really very cold indeed and the sleeping bags were not designed for this temperature. So we dressed and then got back into bed and agreed that we must either buy a duvet or at least some cold weather underwear.So following breakfast we headed into town and purchased some very good Long Johns and Tops to match and hope that they will keep us warm.
We drove towards Lake Manapouri where we are to get the boat out to Doubtful Sound. This is a one hour boat ride on a fast catamaran out to West Arm Manapouri Power Station. We visited the power station which produces energy mainly for an Aluminium Plant based at Bluff some one hundred and fifty kilometres away. There was then a forty five minute coach ride, but with photographic stops it took an hour. The coach driver was the same guy we had on our visit here last time.
We arrived at Deep Cove where we transferred to an even bigger boat which then took us out in to the Fiord or Doubtful Sound.
The weather was absolutely fantastic and when you consider that this area of South Island has between six and eight metres of rain per year compared to three to four metres at West Arm and two to three metres at Te Anau.
There are only a maximum of fifty days per year when the sun comes out and we happed to be there this time when the sun shone. What good fortune as the rest of the year it rains all the time if not part of the time. For a comparison look at last years photos.The trip took about three hours and we saw the seals at their breeding grounds on the rocks on the Sound inlet and then went in to a Fiord called Hall Arm where on the boat they turn off all the engines, air conditioning and generators and ask everybody to turn off cameras and mobiles phones so that you can hear the silence of the wilderness. Bloody great it was too.
Then back on the coach to West Arm and then back on the catamaran to return across Lake Manapouri and then back to our campsite.
We were both a bit tired after a full day and a sleepless night so we had some toast and marmalade and a much needed cup of tea before retiring to bed with our new warm underwear.
This was a really fabulous day and will be remembered for quite some time to come.
